Monday, May 22, 2006

MARCHERS ATTACKED IN CHILE


Scores of marchers were arrested yesterday as the demonstrated near the Chilean Parliament building yesterday. Two thousand students, workers and others took to the streets demanding democratic change and social reforms. Police used water cannons on the marchers who were building barricades in the streets.

The following article is from Prensa Latina (word for word).


Chilean Communists Denounce Police Quashing

Santiago de Chile, May 22 (Prensa Latina) The Communist Party (CP) in Chile urged the government to stop the police crackdown trying against popular rallies for social change.

CP leader Guillermo Teillier, who went through the brutal police repression in Valparaiso on Sunday, affirmed this is the worst method the Executive can use to meet social complaints.

The march called by the CP, Unitary Workers Central and other grassroots bodies to demand democratic changes, labor reforms, improvements in education and health, among others, was violently interrupted.

With water cannons and tear gas canisters, the police charged at the protestors when they were reaching the barriers authorities had imposed near the Congressional headquarters, where President Michelle Bachelet was delivering a speech to the nation.

Communist leaders rejected the official version that blamed the participants in the peaceful demonstration, authorized by the Government, of provoking the intervention and accused the police of unnecessary use of force.

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